This past Friday, I had the wonderful opportunity of attending a preview of the brand-new Sesame Place theme and water park in Chula Vista, California, the day before the park officially opened. Now while everything Sesame Street is new to the park, the park itself isn’t completely new. Sesame Place is actually the former Aquatica water park, and before that it was owned by Cedar Fair and operated as Knott’s Soak City. The powers that be at SeaWorld Entertainment decided to retheme the park and add some dry rides, as a way to keep the park open year-round.
So join me for a tour of this mostly new park, where I’ll share some of my thoughts on what makes this a great place for the young and young-at-heart.
As soon as you enter Sesame Place, you’re immediately greeted by the Sesame Street Neighborhood area. This impressively themed and interactive area puts you right into the world of Sesame Street, much like the very similar version at SeaWorld Orlando.
Throughout the day, Big Bird will appear at his nest for a storytime show.
Next door, is the spot to get a photo with perhaps the most popular of all the Sesame Street characters, Elmo.
This spot is sure to become a popular Instagram wall.
The first attraction you come across at the front of the park is the extremely cute Sunny Day Carousel.
The video below offers a full tour of the Sesame Street Neighborhood, along with some other areas of the park:
One of the most interesting aspects of the park is how the water rides and dry rides are mixed in together, as right behind the Sesame Street Neighborhood is the dominating Cookie’s Monster Mixer slide.
This is your typical tornado-type slide that can be found at many water parks, and it’s a whole lot of fun!
And then right next to Cookie’s Monster Mixer is the parks’ roller coaster, Super Grover’s Box Car Derby.
Watch Super Grover's Box Car Derby On-Ride POV:
A variety of flat rides perfect for little ones can be found sprinkled throughout the park.
Of course, the main draw for a lot of attendees, especially Aquatica fans, are the water slides. All of the slides from the Aquatica days, except for one set of intense body slides, have been kept, and refreshed with new Sesame Street theming.
Big Bird’s Beach, the wave pool, is probably the best I’ve been to outside of Walt Disney World and Volcano Bay, providing some fun waves in a gigantic pool.
The youngest of kids can have a blast at The Count’s Splash Castle and Elmo’s Silly Sand Slides.
Oscar’s Rotten Rafts is a fun and long family raft ride.
Sadly this set of mat-racing slides were closed, but I absolutely adore the name: Honker Dinger Dash.
One of the highlights for visitors to Sesame Place will surely be the Sesame Street Party Parade, which used to run at SeaWorld San Diego. Check out our full video of the parade:
That completes our tour of Sesame Place San Diego! I was honestly very impressed with the park, it may be my new favorite Southern California water park. The level of theming and just general fun atmosphere is palpable, and I highly recommend anyone, even adults, check out the park.
Stay tuned for an additional report focusing on the merchandise that can be found at the park.